1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to apparatus for holding a baby bottle in a feeding position to assist an infant during feedings, and more particulary, to a baby bottle holder having an improved and inexpensive construction while being adapted to limit the amount of liquid that the infant can consume during any given feeding interval.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Despite the relatively recent resurgence of breast feeding infants, many new mothers prefer or, in some instances, are compelled to rely upon bottle feedings to their infants for all or a portion of the infant's feedings. In some instances, the attending parent may be ill or handicapped and therefore unable to hold the infant and the baby bottle during feedings. Even when the attending parent is not ill or handicapped, it often happens that feeding periods are temporarily interrupted by telephone calls or various chores which need to be performed around the home. During such interruptions, or when the attending parent is temporarily preoccupied with another activity, the parent will frequently attempt to hold the child with one arm while using the other arm to hold a telephone or perform various other chores. In such instances, parents have been known to prop the bottle in a feeding position using a towel or diaper as a prop; even using such makeshift props, it is nonetheless difficult to steady the bottle from which the child is feeding, and typically results in an unpleasant feeding experience for the child.
Various types of devices for holding a baby bottle in a feeding position adjacent an infant's mouth are known in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,510,953 discloses a nursing bottle holder having a panel and a cooperating flap for retaining a baby bottle; the panel is either snapped to the top of a cushioned pad or suspended from opposing sides of a crib by tapes. U.S. Pat. No. 2,880,950 discloses a nursing bottle holder having a base supported upon the chest of the infant; a bracket extends upwardly from the support base, and a bottle-gripping clamp is pivotally connected to the upper portion of the bracket. The pivotal connection between the bracket and the bottle-gripping clamp may be tightened to maintain the gripped bottle at a desired angle; alternatively, the pivotal connection may be loosened to allow the bottle to be either tilted back away from the infant or tilted forward to feed the infant. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 3,117,759 discloses a bottle holder generally including a chest-encompassing base member and a bracket or standard secured to the base for supporting a bottle in a feeding position; the bracket or standard is adapted to swivel relative to the base for tracking side to side movement of the baby's head. Some of the various embodiments disclosed in this patent permit the angle at which the baby bottle is held to be varied in a vertical plane as, for example, through the use of a universal joint.
While each of the aforementioned prior art baby bottle holders serve to support a baby bottle in a feeding position for assisting an infant during feedings, each such prior art baby bottle holder is subject to one or more disadvantages not found within the present invention. For example, each such prior art baby bottle holder is of relatively complex construction, resulting in a correspondingly high manufacturing cost; none of such prior art baby bottle holders is readily adapted to be formed as an inexpensive one-piece, plastic product. Furthermore, some of the aforementioned prior art baby bottle holders would allow an infant, if temporarily left unattended or if the attention of the supervising parent is distracted for a period of time, to consume virtually the entire contents of the baby bottle during one continuous feeding interval; however, it is well known infants who consume large quantities of formula or other liquid without being burped to expell swallowed air during the feeding can suffer gastric difficulties. While some of the prior art baby bottle holders include a mechanism for adjusting the angle at which the baby bottle is held, and are hence capable of limiting the amount of fluid to be consumed by an infant, such baby bottle holders lack any mechanism for repeatedly and accurately varying the angle at which the baby bottle is held from among a plurality of selected, predetermined angles.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a baby bottle holder which is of simple construction and which may be inexpensively molded or formed as a single-piece, plastic product.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a baby bottle holder wherein the angle at which the baby bottle is held may be quickly and easily varied for controlling the amount of liquid that an infant can consume from the baby bottle during any given feeding interval.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide such a baby bottle holder wherein the angle at which the baby bottle is held can be selected accurately and repeatedly from among a plurality of predetermined positions.
These and other objects of the present invention will become more apparent to those skilled in the art as the description thereof proceeds.